Donkey Kong Jr. (1982)
Donkey Kong Jr. is a 1982 arcade platform game by Nintendo and the direct sequel to Donkey Kong (1981). This time the roles flip: Mario is the captor, and Donkey Kong Jr. climbs vines, chains, and ropes across four distinct stages to rescue his father—dodging Snapjaws, Nitpickers, and Sparks while racing the bonus timer.
Game Data
| Release Year | 1982 |
| Developer | Nintendo R&D1 |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platform | Arcade (later: NES/Famicom and more) |
| Genre | Platform |
| Players | 1–2 (alternating) |
| Original Media | Arcade cabinet |
Gameplay:
Classic single-screen platforming: climb vines/chains, jump hazards, and use falling fruit to clear enemies.
Each of the four stages has its own “trick” (vines, springs, electrical hazards, key-lock finale), and the loop
repeats with increasing difficulty—making score-chasing the real endgame.
Story:
After Donkey Kong’s defeat, Mario cages him. Donkey Kong Jr. gives chase, infiltrates Mario’s hideout, and
collects keys to free his father—one of the rare times Mario is framed as the villain in a Nintendo game.
Trivia:
Donkey Kong Jr. became a major arcade hit and was later ported widely (including the Famicom/NES as an early
flagship title). It’s also the only classic Donkey Kong-era game where Mario is explicitly the antagonist.
Donkey Kong Jr. is “pure arcade”: tight rules, readable hazards, and that constant push-pull between safe climbing and risky jumps for a faster clear. It’s also a key piece of Nintendo history—cementing the Donkey Kong cast and expanding the arcade blueprint that fed directly into later Mario-era design.
Screenshots / Media
Timeline / Versions
Why Donkey Kong Jr. Was Historically Important
Donkey Kong Jr. is one of the most important early Nintendo sequels: it proved the company could iterate on a hit with a fresh twist (reversing the hero/villain roles) while keeping the arcade formula razor-sharp. Its four-stage structure became a template for readable, skill-based platform challenges, and it cemented Donkey Kong as more than a one-off—expanding the cast and laying groundwork for Nintendo’s character-driven game identity.
